The New Genting Bet Sportsbook Reviewed & Put to the Test

Genting is another name that is synonymous with casino or slots betting for most UK punters. But, in an ever-increasing trend, the casino operator has extended its interests into the sports betting world, with the opening of Genting Bet in 2014. Can the newcomer compete with the big boys of online sports betting? Well, there’s only one way to find out; a full and frank review of all the platform’s features, from its welcome bonus to deposit options available. Read on for the results.

A Great Genting Bet Sign-Up Bonus

The operator has made a great start to life as a bookmaker by offering a sign-up bonus to its online platform exclusive for punters in the UK. In truth, it’s not the most generous welcome bonus we’ve come across, but it’s good that there’s one available and it could prove valuable to many punters. See the table above for the steps required to get your hands on the £30 risk free bet welcome bonus at Genting Bet.

How to Get the Genting Bet Welcome Bonus

Open your Genting account by registering with the bookmaker

Deposit and then place a bet of at least £10 on a selection with odds of at least evens

If the bet loses, you will be credited with a free bet up to £30

The bonus is easy for new customers to get since there’s no Genting Bet bonus code required. The sign-up bonus is not the only promotion the bookie has going for it currently. In fact, although the promotions list is small, the promotions are well thought out and we like what the betting site offers. We’ve been told that there will be more to come in this area, but currently you can get your hands on:

Best odds guaranteed for every UK & Irish horse racing event

Money back as a free bet up to £20 for all 5+ football accumulators that lose by one selection with the Football Multiple Insurance promotion

A Closer Look at the Standard Features

It’s always a good idea for a new sportsbook to focus on football, since it’s the biggest online market for UK sports betting fans. Genting has hit the nail on the head here then, with strong coverage of both football events and betting options. True, the betting markets can’t yet compete with the best of the best, but you’re sure to find most of the bets you seek here. Since there are so many, it would be nice to be able to minimise bet groups, or for them to be sorted under different tabs, just to clear things up a little. There’s also a good offering for horse racing, meaning fans of this popular market are also very well catered for.

The platform looks the part too. The colour scheme of red, black and white gives a sense of class, while the layout is logical and well designed. The use of a quick links section on the homepage allows easy access to the most popular areas of the site, including running competitions or events, which is a nice touch. There’s also a designated football coupons section with selections for different betting markets, which will appeal to many punters. The sportsbook is contained as a section of the Genting website, so if you’re also a fan of casino or slots, you can quickly switch to those areas with ease.

In-play betting is given its own heading and the live betting homepage is split between current and upcoming events. The live events part works great, since you can switch between the different sports by using a tab, which brings up each sport individually. The upcoming live events section is a little scruffy though, since the different sports are not distinguished with their own tab, only a heading that is hard to make out. This is a little confusing and could have been executed better. While live betting worked well, unfortunately there is currently no cash out option. We’ve been told this will be coming as a feature of the site, but it is a significant weakness to in-play betting at Genting that loses it points against most other online betting sites.

A lack of live streams is the other downside to live betting at Genting Bet. This is not as big a deal as the lack of a cash out function, but it will still matter to some users and is certainly worth mentioning. Despite the sportsbook being young, Genting have been around a while and have used this expertise to already have a Genting Bet app up and running. The app looks, feels and performs similar to the online platform and gets the thumbs up from us. This is no surprise, since FSBtech have worked on the fully native iOS app for Genting Bet and have also worked on the bookie’s online platform.

What Payment Methods Are Valid?

Somewhat surprisingly for an established operator, Genting haven’t supplied the Genting Bet sportsbook with a wide range of deposit options. In fact, the range is extremely small with just three different payment options currently available. The available payments are shown in the table below.

GENTING ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING PAYMENT METHODS

Payment method

Deposit

Withdrawal Processing

Cashout

min

max

time

fee

min.

max.

fee

.

£10

£99,000

Instant

Free

3-4 Business Days

£10

£100,000

Free

.

£10

£99,000

Instant

Free

3-4 Business Days

£10

£100,000

Free

.

£50

£50,000

Instant

Free

1 Business Day

£50

£50,000

Free

The visa and maestro options are standard and the minimum and maximum deposits also standard. Since there are so few options for depositing, it would be nice to see at least one of them have a lower minimum deposit of £5, but unfortunately, this is not the case, with £10 the lowest deposit and withdrawal amount of any payment method. For the other deposit option – Skrill – things are worse, with a minimum deposit and withdrawal of £50. We’d like to see the betting site introduce some new payment options, especially PayPal, as soon as possible.

How Good Is the Customer Service?

Things pick up again for Genting Bet when it comes to customer service. There are operators available 24/7, via email, live chat or you can request a telephone call back. I tested the email response times and on all occasions received a reply within a few hours of my initial enquiry. Live chat is also available for members of the site and the operators were always helpful and polite.

Aside from the helpdesk, there’s also a getting started guide, which is a nice touch and may be useful for some. The Genting Bet sportsbook itself does not have an FAQ section, but there is one for the casino aspect of the site. This may answer some questions you may have, but is unlikely to be sufficient, so most will be forced to contact customer service. An FAQ should be added to the site soon which will be a good addition. Luckily though, the customer service level in general is good as we highlighted above, so you should be confident that any issue or question you have will be answered quickly and adequately.

A History of the Company

The Genting Group is Malaysian owned and was founded way back in 1965. Its casinos can now be found all over the world, including the UK, Americas, Australia, Singapore and many other locations. In the UK, the Genting group owns more casinos than any other organisation, with 47.

While casinos and other areas are obviously the group’s main focus, it has put increased efforts into turning itself into a player in the sports betting world. The group launched its sportsbook – Genting Bet – in 2014 and have consistently increased and improved the product since. The sportsbook is a natural evolution of the company according to its CEO and managing director, as it functions as a part of the online Genting offering of casino and slot games, meaning Genting users can keep all their betting activities under the Genting brand and in one place online.

A Solid Start

Genting Bet has had two years online now and we’ve not given it too much opportunity for excuses due to this. Luckily though, since its soft launch in 2014, it has come a long way and now offers an almost complete sports betting package. This should be little surprise really, since Genting has worked closely with industry experts FSBtech.

It has obviously put the most effort into its football betting package and they’ve done a great job. This really is almost as good a place as any to bet on football and will only improve, as the number of promotions and betting options increase. That’s not to say they’ve skipped over any other areas though. There are loads of sports markets, betting options and a good overall look and feel to betting here.

OUR OVERALL CONCLUSION ON THE SPORTSBOOK

Markets

Support

Live Betting

Mobile App

Bonus

Overall

8.1/10Good!

8.3/10Very Good!

7.9/10Good!

7.9/10Good!

8.0/10Good!

.

There are a number of negative points though, ranging from slight niggles to big weaknesses. Towards the former, the lack of live streams and the very small number of payment options are the main culprits. In terms of big weaknesses, the lack of a cash out option is the main issue. In-play betting is the most popular sports betting style in the world and cash out is a major part of this for millions of punters. Once Genting Bet add this function they will certainly be worthy of anyone’s attention, but if these functions are all essential for you, we’d recommend William Hill for the time being.